Nokia BH-905 revisited
by Volker Weber
Photo: Nokia
I have used this headset now for a couple of weeks and it has performed absolutely flawlessly. I even got it to work with the iPhone 4. You connect it and as soon as you hear the connection beep, you keep on hitting the play button on the headset until the iPhone gets it. Once you have established this connection, the iPhone will react to all the relevant commands like play/pause, skip forward and backwards. I have also been able to use it for phone calls with the iPhone.
On my 12 hour flights, I have used it with an iPod touch 3rd gen. I don't want to run down a phone battery in flight and find myself with a dead battery on arrival. I just put the iPod on a long playlist and left it inside my bag in the overhead compartment. I put on the headset for noise cancellation and when I wanted to listen to music, I just hit the play/pause button. When I did not like a track I just skipped forward. No wires to tangle up. It was just brilliant. Batteries never wore down. I recharged them when I was able to, but I have no idea how long they really last.
Big, big recommendation.
Comments
How do you feel about the weird shaped headband. Do they fit ok?
OK, ordered. vowe.net continues to be an expensive place to visit.
Stefan, no it isn't. I am saving you from buying junk. ;-)
Stuart, nothing weird about the headband. Here is how it fits on a head much prettier than mine. The ear pieces tilt and swivel so that they are most comfortable on your ears (and not around them):
Photo: Nokia
Bought them last week. Tried them on my flight to San Francisco. Convinced.
Agreed on vowe being an expensive place. ;-)
thanks vowe, I got it to work with the iPhone 4 too. Hopefully this bug will be fixed in iOS 4.2 (haven't dared put it on the iPhone yet - I'm getting old it seems).
Interestingly - the sound quality via Bluetooth on the iPhone is much much better, than the quality I get when I connect to the MacBook pro. I can hear compression artifacts when it's paired to the MBP, on the iPhone the sound is crystal clear.
Will investigate if that's a general MBP problem or if doesn't like the Magic Pad connected via BT at the same time.
And vowe isn't really expensive - just think of all the money you save by not buying crap (Apple In-Ears anyone?)
So you used Bluetooth on a plane? Aren't you supposed to turn off all radio wave emitting devices during flight?
Do you know what a money shield is? Things are only dangerous if you don't pay for them. Water bottle? Dangerous, unless bought at an airport concession. Inflight Wi-Fi? Dangerous, unless you paid for the internet connection. Damn, I did not pay for Bluetooth. That was dangerous.
I bought them when they came out.
Having never used noise canceling before in my life i have noticed a few things using this headset.
As always marketing is greatly exaggerated.
* of course you still hear the engine of the plane - but very much reduced they say 99% reduction but it sure did not sound like that
* for me (I am a noise canceling virgin) wearing the headset after 6 hours gave me a uncomfortable feeling and a slight headache which i believe is due to the audio waves generated to block the plane engines...
I had problems with my first unit and was told by Nokia Care that Nokia reduced the warranty to only 6 months for this specific headset which is short considering the price of this unit.
Would I buy them again. Of course ;) There is already a new model out the BH-905i You can see the differences between the two models here
99% reduction would be -20 db, and that is perfectly possible. You would go from 80 dB to 60 dB which of course you can still hear. I have worn the headset for 14 hours with hardly a pause inbetween and they still felt comfortable to me.
Thanks for the tip on the BH-905i, Andre. Just cancelled my order for the original model and reordered the 905i.
Same price?
No, fraid not. The BH-905 were ¢169, the BH-905i ¢195...
Close enough to get the new model. Nick has lucky to catch them a bit cheaper.
Actually, play.com have them for ¢179.99. Quite like the look of the white ones, but can't wait for another month...
Agree, vowe.net is one expensive site ;-)
Stuart, on the flight I watched The Joneses, which got me thinking whether I should turn this into a job. ;-)
Looks like the BH-905i model has been delayed until 29th October, at least here in the UK ;-(
I can wholeheartedly agree that it makes sense to wait for vowe to endorse a product.
You cannot imagine the money I spent on stupid crap (Noxon waveradio, Terratec Squeezebox and jumping through hoops to make these things work the way I wanted, including leaving my WLAN without WEP protection for some time and similar stupidities) until succumbing to the siren's voice telling me to finally do the right thing and buy a Sonos. Since then: Pure bliss.
Same with the myriads of headsets. I have had all the crap. And I really mean ALL. Anybody remember the jawbone? I even bought a couple of highly obscure norwegian Asono Freebit H1 BT headsets (still fond of them, unfortunately the company went out of businesss and I lack my charger), last purchase: dr. dre Monster Studio, which is good because there is no wireless but a solid cord, but the micro is complete crap. Then come the Iasus 500K - coolest thing, wearing it you look like an agent, and no wires at all for the last part of the voice transmission, just a clear plastic pipe, but: Microphone is crap!
So now, in the market for the BH, let's see how it figures in comparison. I will probably prefer to use it with the cord, but that depends on how good it actually transmits voice in skype- and voice calls.
Just ordered a BH-905i ( new model ).
Will be here tomorrow.
And yes: vowe´s flying circus keeps my credit card flying, too. ;-)
Ich bin schon wieder einer deiner Empfehlungen gefolgt und schon wieder sowas von zufrieden ;-)
